Sunday, May 15, 2011

When Juventus won the Champions League they celebrated as if for the first time. Their previous victory, in 1985, had been in the shadow of the Heysel disaster. As chief executive and former striker Roberto Bettega said, 'This is for real. We could never celebrate winning in 1985. We have waited a long time for this.'But even the achievement of sgueezing past outgoing holders Ajax on penalties would prove to be tarnished glory. Four years later, outspoken comments about the muscle-bound nature of various Juve players by Zdenek Zeman, an Italian-based Czech coach, turned out to be their undoing. Zeman's comments prompted a criminal investigation by a Turin public prosecutor, Raffaele Guariniello, himself ironically a Juve fan.

Guariniello had long been concerned about rumours of doping in Italian football. Zeman's comments gave him the excuse to home in on Juventus. An inguiry team removed more than one hundred medicines and potions from the club's premises and this ultimately - in November 2004 - led to a suspended jail sentence for club doctor Riccardo Agricola for 'sporting fraud' between 1994 and 1998.

In the spring of 2005, Dick Pound, head of the World Anti Doping Agency, demanded that Juventus be stripped of the titles they had won in those years which included three Serie A titles, one Italian cup, one World Club Cup, one European Supercup and... this 1996 Champions' crown. Victory, even if claimed only by virtue of a shoot-out, was deserved on the day. Juventus out-shot Ajax by 13-6 and out-scored them on corners by 10 to six. Afterwards ,coach Marcello Lippi hailed the way his players - intriguingly, with hindsight - had maintained the pace of their game throughout the 120 minutes.Juventus could have won it early on. First Alex del Piero needed just a little too long in front of goal, then Fabrizio Ravanelli, the grey-haired 'Silver Fox', fired hastily high and wide. Finally Ajax 'keeper Edwin van der Sar and Frank de Boer allowed Ravanelli to steal the ball from between them and shoot home from the narrowest of angles.

One goal was less than Juve deserved but allowed Ajax to equalize four minutes before half-time. De Boer, making up for his blunder, surprised Angelo Peruzzi with a free-hick and, when the ball was pushed out to Jari Litmanen, the Finn scored to become the competition's top marksman with nine goals. Gianluca Vialli hit the bar and was foiled brilliantly on three occasions by Van der Sar as Ajax survived into extra time. Surviving penalties, however, turned out to be beyond them. Juve succeeded in Rome where Olimpico hosts Roma had failed against Liverpool in 1984. Ajax coach Louis van Gaal was disappointed but not surprised. He said, 'You can tell, at the start of the penalties, who is going to win. When you have only a few players volunteering, then you know you have lost.